Help me understand Google Voice and wireless relation

[mattwill]

I am on the verizon network.

My understanding was that I may use GVoice to make calls for free in the event i had a wireless signal. These calls will NOT count against my minutes.
I also thought that this function is solely based on the wireless internet connection and NOT the verizon signal strength.

But when i am home, where i have a very unreliable Verizon signal, but a very strong wireless internet signal, my phone cannot make reliable GVoice calls! It drops me as many times as i get dropped when I am calling using my regular verizon network.....almost as if GVoice is depending on the network.

Please confirm what is actually going on with Google Voice as this is maddening - i STILL cant get a reliable call in my own home.

 

[drewcam888]

GV is not a free call unless you gv is listed it on your friends and family list. The offical gv app just uses the verizon signal to make a call. It does not use a data connection

 

[mattwill]

GV is not a free call unless you gv is listed it on your friends and family list. The offical gv app just uses the verizon signal to make a call. It does not use a data connection

What!! Darn!

Then there must be a significant delay in the "used minutes" the "my verizon" app records after a call. I made a call on GVoice, and then re-checked my minutes used using this app, and none were recorded. This led me to believe that GVoice did not count against your minutes.


I thought it was my solution to making calls from home. Oh well, time to re-load my skype account.

 

[Yaz75]

What!! Darn!

Then there must be a significant delay in the "used minutes" the "my verizon" app records after a call. I made a call on GVoice, and then re-checked my minutes used using this app, and none were recorded. This led me to believe that GVoice did not count against your minutes.


I thought it was my solution to making calls from home. Oh well, time to re-load my skype account.

If you need to make calls from home, why not just use the calling feature in Gmail? You can dial right from the browser and talk for free.

http://www.google.com/chat/voice/

 

[Tre Lawrence]

Yep, Drew is right.

You can try using GV with Sipdroid... there are a couple of tutorials floating around in this very forum. Or, you can do what drew suggests, and work with a friends/family/faves type set up.

If not, GV will use your minutes.